Finally, the voices on one side of the gym exploded in one massive cheer; the other side fell silent.

The Norco girls basketball team won a heartstopping 69-68 overtime thriller against Diamond Ranch on Tuesday night, advancing to the CIF-SS Division II-AA championship game at the Pyramid in Long Beach.

“In order to be a coach, you have to have CPR (training),” Norco coach Rick Thompson said. “I just never thought I’d have to use it on myself.”

With 6.6 seconds remaining in overtime, Diamond Ranch inbounded the ball at the far end of the court, down one point.

The No. 2 seed Panthers (27-2) put the ball in the hands of their most reliable ballhandler, senior Eliza Dy, who streaked down the court and tried to toss up an off-balance layup.

But the shot wasn’t close, and the buzzer sounded to end Diamond Ranch’s CIF title defense as No. 3 seed Norco (27-2) celebrated.

The game was highlighted by two exceptional performances.

Norco won in large part because spunky sharpshooter Tyler Howard hit nine 3-pointers and scored a total of 30 points.

That helped the Cougars survive a phenomenal performance from UCLA-bound star Nina Earl, who poured in 39 points on 16-of-24 shooting to go along with 12 rebounds, three blocks and three steals. She hit all eight of her shots in the second half.

Dy tied the game at 65 on a pair of free throws with 50.5 seconds remaining in regulation. Neither team scored the rest of the way, and the Panthers tried an inbounds play with one second left, but Dy missed a tough layup.

In overtime, Norco’s Cierra Windham (26 points) scored the first four points, but Earl cut the lead to 69-67 with a pair of free throws.

The Cougars committed an offensive foul on their next possession to give Earl a one-and-one with 39 seconds left, but she missed the second shot.

Dy got her last-chance run following a Norco turnover, but the Cougars survived.

“One point doesn’t make us the better team,” Thompson said. “It just lets us play next week.”

Diamond Ranch could still make the CIF-State tournament, but coach Vince Spirlin wasn’t sure.

“It just didn’t fall our way,” he said. “In a game that close, funny things are gonna happen. We put ourselves in that predicament.”

Said Howard: “We came here with one goal and that was to get to the Pyramid. We were determined to win and we wanted it more.”

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